Obama's Debt To Harold Ickes

realclearpolitics.com ^ | June 03, 2008 | Thomas Edsall

[neverdem]

Barack Obama stands on the brink of capturing the presidential nomination in large part because of Democratic Party reforms initiated by the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s -- movements in which Hillary Clinton's top strategist, Harold Ickes, was a key player.

When Obama was barely three, Ickes took part in Mississippi Freedom Summer, helping the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party send a primarily black delegation to the 1964 national convention in Atlantic City.

After the Freedom Democratic delegation was denied seating by the virtually all white male Democratic Party establishment, Ickes -- then 24 -- went on to help organize the party's reformist Harold Hughes Commission, the precursor to the McGovern Commission.

The anger against entrenched power of the old-line Democratic Party intensified, and by 1968, young civil rights, women's rights, and anti-war activists were beaten in the streets of Chicago outside the convention hall, and the protests of dissidents were gaveled down by party bosses on the convention floor. The outrage gave birth to the Democratic Party's Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection, aka the McGovern Commission.

Writing in the January 1970 issue of Harper's about the '68 convention, McGovern described the "tumultuous floor debate, bloodshed and tear gas in the streets...it also evokes the image of rigged procedures, a political party assembled to reach predetermined decisions. The convention became the shame of the Democratic Party."

Coming out of the turmoil of the sixties, the 1972 McGovern rules, as they came to be known, radically altered the way Democrats pick their presidential nominees, opening up the political process by mandating proportional inclusion of previously excluded constituencies -- African Americans, voters under 30, and women.

All of the reforms adopted then, and modified over the years, have been in play this year, including the expanded role in...

[neverdem]

Maybe conservatives could get some traction in the GOP nomination process if they also used the caucus. With the primary system that we now have, it's subverted by independent and dem crossover votes.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Er.. How well have the Democrats done with their system since then in Presidential politics?

[Baladas]

Umm, no, the Democrat Party nomination process is nothing to emulate. Just look at this year - if they had had the GOP’s, Hillary would’ve clinched the GOP nomination weeks ago. But instead, they’re on the verge of nominating the weakest possible candidate possible to face off against Juan.

Hillary could beat him, but she’s damaged goods as well. They can keep their system.

[Jeff Head]

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

[The Duke]

Obama will trump Hillary because he has a constituency that's willing to riot in the streets, while Hillary's is only willing to stand in front of a judge.

I guess all power does ultimately flow from the barrel of a gun.

[shalom aleichem]

Harold Ickes is a perfectly loathsome individual. Nothing good should be said of him. He didn’t go south to help Blacks, but to create anarchy and deconstruct “the system”. He’s a gruff, anti-social, psychopath and boor. A CCF hitman. I can’t wit to see the back of him, Lanny Davis, Syd Blumenthal et al. The slime will trickle down the sewer.

Obama was a useful tool to rip the Democrat party from the Clintons, but he may deliver it to the far, far left. Still better than Toons (because the public can’t resist the Toon schmooze and BS).

[neverdem]

Er.. How well have the Democrats done with their system since then in Presidential politics?

That perspective is too narrow. With the exception of Reagan, we're getting a sucession of CINOs, conservatives in name only. We're getting yanked to the left whether we care to admit it or not. It's always the pubbies who make compromises, never the left. The culture is absurd, and the state is much bigger.

[Gaffer]

.... while Hillary's is only willing to stand in front lie to of a judge.

There, fixed it!

[Ann Archy]

-- movements in which Hillary Clinton's top strategist, Harold Ickes, was a key player.

Ickes is the one who set up these PRIMARY RULES!!! THAT's why Obama OWES ICKES!!!! The Nominatrix was going to be CORONATED, and now she's BEGGING for sloppy seconds!

[Ann Archy]

Harold Ickes is a perfectly loathsome individual. Nothing good should be said of him. He didn’t go south to help Blacks, but to create anarchy and deconstruct “the system”. He’s a gruff, anti-social, psychopath and boor. A CCF hitman. I can’t wit to see the back of him, Lanny Davis, Syd Blumenthal et al. The slime will trickle down the sewer. Obama was a useful tool to rip the Democrat party from the Clintons, but he may deliver it to the far, far left. Still better than Toons (because the public can’t resist the Toon schmooze and BS).

AMEN!!! AMEN!!! AMEN!!!! ESPECIALLY the LAST sentence!!!

[litehaus]

"Harold Ickes is a perfectly loathsome individual"

Are you standing on the courthouse steps saying this truth?.LOL..

[piasa]

Barack Obama stands on the brink of capturing the presidential nomination in large part because of Democratic Party reforms initiated by the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s -- movements in which Hillary Clinton's top strategist, Harold Ickes, was a key player.

When Obama was barely three, Ickes took part in Mississippi Freedom Summer, helping the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party send a primarily black delegation to the 1964 national convention in Atlantic City.

Harold Ickes, lawyer for several mafia crime families, including the Gambino family.

[piasa]

bump

[piasa]

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